The 7 Best iOS Photography Apps for the iPhone

While the iPhone comes with a pretty great camera, the stock camera app could stand to get a pretty big upgrade. Luckily, there are more than enough camera apps out there to replace the stock app, and while you won’t get the tight integration that comes with staying inside Apple’s walled garden, it’s worth it for the features you get. Check out the best iOS photography apps below and see if you’re using any of them.

Have a favorite we didn’t mention? Leave it in the comments below for us to try.

One of the longest-running camera apps in the iOS App Store, Camera + has more than enough features to make taking mobile photos more than just point and shoot.

You not only get touch focus like the stock iPhone camera app, but you also get touch exposure. Built-in stability helps keep photos shake-free, and once the picture is taken, you get a bevy of enhancements that take your photos well past the hipster filters of other apps.

Camera + is easily the most professional out of all the apps in this list, so anyone looking to take the best photo possible should really give it a try.

Aviary’s mobile app is less a camera and more a mobile editing studio. Edit, enhance, and even create your own memes with this free image editor.

Solid, simple, and overall one of the easiest ways to enhance your pictures without getting that over-processed feel, Aviary is simple to pick up and start using, and fast enough that any picture you post online should at least get a quick once-over from the app.

With tons of filters and enhancements pre-loaded and more available as an in-app purchase, Aviary is a solid entry into this list.

Facetune

If selfies and portraits are more your thing, Facetune can help make you look your best.

Clear blemishes, brighten faces, whiten teeth, and even remove piercings so each portrait you take is the best possible. With Facetune you get professional Photoshop-quality edits by touching and swiping a few times on the image.

Along with fixing issues with the subject of the picture, Facetune helps mobile photos that aren’t their best shine, thanks to brightness and contrast control.

What started as a simple app that added vintage filters to your photos and shared them with your friends is now a worldwide phenomenon that was purchased by Facebook.

Instagram is part photo sharing app and part filter application app. Along with photos you can take short videos and apply the same filters, giving them a unique look. While some people shy away form filter apps, they definitely have their place and people definitely love them.

The app, paired with the recent updates to the Instagram website give you the ability to browse your feed via the web as well as the phone.

The stock camera app on iOS has an included HDR mode, but the major issue with it is the lack of control you get over the HDR images. While they often come out looking better than the original, sometimes you want to control how the picture comes out. With TrueHDR, you get just that.

True HDR gives you basically one feature with a few options. There are no filters, no sharing, and no image editing. What you do get however is a solid HDR camera that has three different modes. First you get the automatic mode that’s similar to the stock camera app, but the other two give you manual control over how the different images are taken, making TrueHDR a great app that can really make your photos pop.

Flickr is one of the best photo hosting sites available today. With a total of 1TB (yea, that’s a terabyte) of storage for free, anyone hosting photos online should be using Flickr.

The mobile app serves three purposes. First, it’s a replacement for your stock camera app. It can take great pictures that are automatically uploaded to Flickr. Second, it’s a robust editing app that features straightening, image clean up, and the ever-present filters. Lastly, Flickr is a community of image sharing, and the app handles this perfectly.

Even if you don’t want to edit images in the Flickr app, having it for the auto upload feature is reason enough for the free app.

About Brian Meyer

Brian is a technology nut who loves all things Apple. Along with tech blogging he owns and operates a website dedicated to Craft Beer knowledge and information: Craft Beer Academy. With a love of sharing information and finding the newest tech out there, he is a great source for interesting news and instruction.

Why wouldn’t photographers love apps? They are great tools for photographers to use.
One of my fav apps is a photo assignment generator that I’ve been using for my photo365 called learnphoto365. Also love Lenstag for keeping track of all my serials, letterglow for adding text, perspective correct for fixing wide angle distortion…so many apps!!!
Great list! I love Camera+, hadn’t tried Aviary yet, thanks for sharing!